In manufacturing a display panel having a display part formed on the middle area of the substrate and a terminal part formed on the peripheral area of the substrate, there is a conventional approach to prevent the alteration of the display part due to moisture, gas, or the like by forming a passivation layer of SiN (silicon nitride) so as to cover the display part by using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. According to this approach, the passivation layer needs to cover the entire display part. However, if the terminal part is also covered with the passivation layer, the passivation layer causes low conductivity between the terminal part and the wiring terminals connected to the terminal part. In view of this problem, the passivation layer is formed by selective film formation using a mask, in order to prevent the passivation film from covering the terminal part.
In this regard, it is not easy to form the passivation layer exactly on a desired area by a CVD method. In order to completely cover the display part while not covering the terminal part, it is necessary to provide a wide gap between the display part formation area where the display part is to be formed and the terminal part formation area where the terminal part is to be formed so that the periphery of the passivation layer does not overlap the terminal part. However, such a wide gap is not preferable because it increases the size of the display panel.
According to a manufacturing method disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the passivation film is formed by the following steps: first, as shown in FIG. 13A, a display part 905 composed of a bottom electrode 902, an organic light-emitting layer 903 and a top electrode 904 is formed on a substrate 901, while an adhesive anisotropic conductive film (ACF) 907 with a protective laminate 906 is attached to the area on the bottom electrode 902 where the terminal part is to be formed; next, as shown in FIG. 13B, an SiN layer 908 is formed to cover the display part 905 and the ACF 907; and finally, as shown in FIG. 13C, the formation of the passivation layer 909 is completed by removing the portion of the SiN layer 908 on the protective laminate 906 by peeling off the protective laminate 906. With this method, the ACF 907 will not be covered with the passivation layer 909, and hence the conductivity between the ACF 907 and the wiring terminals will not be degraded.